Humans of UniSA: Frances Cohen

Everyone has a story. A defining moment of their existence that makes them the person they are today. For Humans of UniSA, we delve into the depths of human nature and speak with some students to discover a slice of their personal history.

Frances Cohen

Bachelor of Contemporary Art

I find that it’s easier to project a message through my art when the face has been concealed. Sometimes I’ll have other components that are a bit obscured too, but overall I tend to bring the attention away from a person’s identity. This aspect wasn’t something I was necessarily conscious of initially. It just started to naturally happen.

There’s a lot of subtleties and nods to transgenderism in my work. I actually created a piece recently that depicted this muscular body, with the words ‘she/her’ beside it. I really try to highlight that no matter how you identify, or present yourself, people should be accepting of that. These sorts of bodies actually exist, and no one should make you feel ashamed of who you are.

For me, the best way to communicate ideas is to not immediately hit someone in the face with it. You have to be more delicate and allow them to figure it out for themselves. I guess that’s how I’ve been able to make my own work more accessible. Funnily enough, this sort of relates to how I came out to some of the closest people in my life. I never actually admitted anything to them. Over time, I just eased everyone into who I was.

Art has become a way of cultivating my own feelings and opinions on the world. It’s become an outlet for me to process something that might be bubbling under the surface. The subtle detailing in my work plays into this a lot, because I might write something controversial across my artwork when I feel as though something needs to be said, or I’ll rip the edges of the paper when I’m feeling angry. It’s the closest thing I have to a journal.

Frances is the cover artist of our last magazine, the Sex Edition (#30)